The oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis ) needs a tropical climate, and it is precisely in the tropics that the plantations exploited for oil extraction are concentrated.
The main producing countries are concentrated in Southeast Asia, in particular Malaysia and Indonesia, and in the tropical areas of Africa and Brazil.
In addition to the nutritional profile, palm oil is also denigrated from an environmental point of view. Suffice it to say that between 2000 and 2012, Indonesia saw the disappearance of 6.02 million hectares of tropical forest (an area the size of Ireland), to obtain land to be used mainly for the production of palm oil.
It is well known that forests are able to absorb and store huge quantities of carbon dioxide as organic matter, releasing oxygen thanks to the well-known chlorophyll photosynthesis process. When these forests are set on fire, or when soils are drained to make them suitable for crops, in addition to depriving the planet of this precious effect, huge amounts of greenhouse gases are released and then released into the air. In addition to carbon dioxide there is also the problem of methane, a greenhouse gas present in the soil where it is generated by anaerobic fermentation.
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